Bieker Forum Discusses Bicycling

City Councilman Tom Beiker held a public forum at The Hub yesterday — first in a series of planned public discussions. The main topic was bicycling and helping make Springfield a bicycle-friendly community.

My position going forward: It appears the bicycle lane tide is rising fast, so there’s almost nothing to be gained by my continued opposition to all lane painting. Instead, I plan to save my energy for fighting lanes that put novice bicyclists into immediate danger — unnecessary conflicts with motorists, e.g. door-zone lanes.

Comments 5

I may be “Grumpy,” but I’m all for picking the battles we fight versus those that are either not worth the effort, or that cannot be won. Perhaps, after all, Andy is not a “liberal,” but simply a “realist.” You GO GUY!

Robert… Well, yeah, but that doesn’t mean I *like* the position I’m taking. I’m forced into it. And, man, you are really gonna hear me squawk if Springfield or Missouri tried to pass a law that I *must* ride in a lane. As for disagreements, I’m sure we’ll figure something out

Do you have any bike lanes that are not in door zones? I ask because the only exceptions I’ve seen are on bridges with no parking.

The advocates in Philadelphia say they are no longer installing lanes in door zones, but I’ve only seen miles 6-8 miles of new lanes that have replaced parking. The city doesn’t ticket motorists that park in these bike lanes. Almost all of the existing lanes I can see are DZBL.

Similarly, DE planners told me the DZBsL meet Federal and State standards, so they will not install sharrows. Ordinary bicyclists will not ride in the middle of the lane. Advocates also suggested saving sharrows for realistic locations, not on multi lane roads or where the speed limit is over 20mph (i.e. any road that leaves a development).

Does Missouri have any bike lanes that are safe at faster than walking speed? Can you really fight DZBL or 3′ bike lanes without fighting all bike lanes?

To address your earlier posts on Philadelphia and DE, the Phil advocates take the position that bicyclists in the door zone are riding legally and motorists are required to watch for them. They claim motorists are legally responsible for dooring and right hooks, and should bear the burden of preventing them.

Similarly, DE paints bike lanes up to intersections and to the right of right turn arrows because regular bicyclists don’t want the bike lane to end at intersections and aren’t comfortable leaving the curb. I’ve written to them about AASHTO standards when the designs were exposed. While they agreed to comply with the standards, the final installation followed the original design (not AASHTO).